'22 HOREHOUND. 



hound possesses some medical powers may be inferred from it? 

 sensible qualities; but its virtues do not appear to be so much 

 valued as the records of different practitioners would fairly warrant. 

 It is tonic, diuretic, emmenagogue, and laxative. By the ancients 

 it was extensively used, with the view of removing obstructions of 

 the lungs and other viscera.* It has likewise been very celebrated 

 in humoural asthma, and particularly that kind attended with a 

 redundance of viscid mucus,f in obstinate coughs,! and pulmo- 

 nary consumptions.il De Haen§ and Haller^J often found it fail. 



Horehound has also been employed in chronic catarrhs of the 

 urethra and bladder ; in scarlatina, atonic dropsies, scurvy, leucor- 

 rhoea, and occasionally in worms, intermittent fevers, and for the 

 dyspepsia of cachectic persons. It has moreover been recom- 

 mended in hypochondriasis, hysteria, and obstruction of the 

 menses. By Chomel** it is related (infused in wine) to have 

 removed two scirrhous tumours in the region of the liver ; 

 Forestus,ft Zacutus Lusitanus,^ also speak of its efficacy in re- 

 solving indurations of the liver. Dr. Cullen,|||| however, doubts 

 the accuracy of these statements, and we think, justly considers 

 the property here ascribed to Marrubium, very improbable. 

 Borellus§§ exhibited an infusion to bring on the menses, and to 

 relieve chlorosis : and the celebrated Linnaeus^ ^[ relates a case of 

 mercurial salivation, of a year's standing, which was readily cured 

 by the same means. Such have been the reputed beneficial effects 

 of this plant ; and from its still being retained in the British Phar- 

 macopoeias, we join with Peyrille and Alibert*** in asserting that it 

 may be properly given in all cases where tonic remedies are neces- 



* Dioscoiides, lib. iii. c. 119, p. 223 ; also Pliny, lib. xx. c. 22. 

 •f Rhazes ad Manson, iii. n. 49. 

 X Losecke; Arzneym. p. 382. 



|| Alex. Trallianus, lib. v. ed. Andern, p. 158. Celsus, lib. iii. c. 22, ed. 

 Kravo, p. 171. Coelius Aureliamifi ; Morb. Chron. lib. ii p. 433, sq. 

 § DeHaen ; Rat. Medend. P. iv. p. 252. 

 % Haller; Hist. St. Helv. n. 258. 

 ** Chomel ; Usuell. torn. i. p. 232. 

 ff Forestus; Oper. lib. xix. obs. 19 and 40. 

 XX Zacvt. Lvsit. Prac. admir. lib. ii,obs. 49. 

 IIH Cullen ; Mat. Med. vol. ii. p. 155. 

 §§ Borellus ; Hist, et Observ. Cent. iv. n. 1 4. 

 ff Linn. Flor. Slice, n. 531. 

 *** Flore Medicate, tom. iv. p. 245. 



